Michael Doherty's Music Log: The Mekons Pop Up at La Luz De Jesus Gallery, 10-10-25

In February, Jon Langford and Jim Sherraden's "Complicated Characters" exhibit came to Los Angeles, opening at an unusual gallery called La Luz De Jesus Gallery, which is located inside a store called Wacko on Hollywood Boulevard. Perfect, right? Sally Timms was with them that night, and, after "The Ballad Of Biscuit And Drogo," we were treated to a couple of Mekons songs. Then last night, the Mekons (half of them, anyway: Jon, Sally, Susie Honeyman, and Rico Bell) brought a different sort of exhibit to the gallery. Titled "Luxury Chickens" ("I saw a man hold a chicken to his head"), this one featured the band's hand-painted T-shirts (there were some such shirts for sale at stops along the band's summer tour). And, of course, there was music.

On the gallery's website, the evening was described as "A Night Of Serenading Under The Laundry Of Brit-Punk Band Mekons." And, yeah, the two rooms had clotheslines strung across them, with Mekons shirts of various colors and designs, each one unique, hanging from the lines. As I overheard Rico telling a patron early in the evening, there were no prints and no repeats. Each shirt was hand-painted. Lots of cool, fun designs and artwork, many related to specific songs in the Mekons catalogue. It sucks to be poor, because there were several shirts I wanted to purchase. I had to settle for just getting photos of some of them. A few folks arrived well before the 6 p.m. scheduled start time to choose their shirts before they were picked over. They made some nice choices too. They had been at the previous night's concert out at The Palms.

A little after 6 p.m., Jon wondered aloud where his band mates were. He then spotted Rico. "There's one," he said. "That's enough." But this place, not just the gallery but the store too, is full of interesting stuff to look at, so the others could have been busy in various corners. Soon, however, they were all in the gallery, and it wasn't just myself and other fans who were taking photos. The band members themselves were taking photos of their shirts. And then, to fill the gaps created when people made purchases, they began hanging more shirts. More great designs. Different band members created different designs. There was a Horror shirt that I especially liked, and I learned that one had been created by Rico. If you haven't yet added the band's new album to your collection, I highly recommend picking up a copy. It's available on both CD and vinyl (don't be one of those jerks who only stream music). There were a few other shirts with designs related to that album. Somehow I became certain that if everyone on Earth were walking around in handmade Mekons shirts, the world would immediately become a delightful place. All problems would vanish, except perhaps that of the cranky, raspy-voiced chickens. If you're wondering about the title of the exhibit, "Luxury Chickens," and why the chickens are depicted smoking cigarettes, well, it's because there was a woman who had taught her chickens to smoke and those chickens had become addicted to nicotine. Crazy, but apparently true. I think at this point, however, those chickens are probably vaping, hanging around junior high schools and thinking they're cool.

As much as I wanted one of the Mekons shirts, I know myself, and if I ever purchased a $200 T-shirt, the first day I wore it, it would end up covered in pizza sauce, even if I weren't eating pizza. But there was also Mekons underwear, which even I could afford (and which would be less likely to end up with pizza topping on it), and a hat, though someone had grabbed that right away.

"Last Dance"

A little before 7 p.m., the band gathered in a corner in the back room for the first set. They performed without microphones, with Jon on guitar and vocals, Sally on vocals and hand percussion, Rico on accordion and vocals, and Susie on violin. Folks along the walls stood, but those in the middle of the room sat on the floor, the T-shirts hanging above them (the shirts would have blocked their view had they remained on their feet). The Mekons opened this special show with "Hole In The Ground," a song from the 1987 record Honky Tonkin' and one I don't think I'd had the pleasure of seeing them perform before. The song featured a bit of whistling, and Jon asked the crowd to join in. We didn't do a very good job (we were awful, let's face it), leading Jon to say kindly, "It's hard to whistle in public." They followed that with "Last Weeks Of The War" from Journey To The End Of The Night, released in 2000, with Sally on lead vocals for the first section. The line "I'm not ruined, but I need repair" seems to describe all of us, the entire world. But last night we weren't focused on that, and rather just running with the great joy in the room. Susie delivered some beautiful work on violin, especially at the end. Jon then announced they were going to do one more, a remark met with laughter from the audience. One more? They'd only done two songs. Jon joked that the group would be abandoning music entirely at the end of the year. The last song of the set was "Last Dance," with much of the audience singing along with them. The first set ended at 7:10 p.m. "One more," someone shouted out, leading Jon to reply that they'd do more in ten minutes.

"Slightly South Of The Border"

Twenty minutes later, Jon, Susie and Rico were ready to go, and they began singing Sally's name as a way of summoning her. It worked, and Sally was soon singing "Ghosts Of American Astronauts." From the audible reaction, it was clear that this was a song several people were particularly happy to hear. Afterward Sally commented, "No one's bought the underpants." "I'm not surprised," Jon said, "Not my favorite section of the thrift store." Sally indicated that they'd been washed. Rico then took over lead vocal duties for a wonderful cover of "Sweet Dreams," which was a hit for Patsy Cline. That was followed by another song I'd never seen them perform before, "Dickie, Chalkie And Nobby," a song from the Natural album. What a treat it was to get to see them do this one. This was a special evening, indeed. Then when Jon began "Millionaire," Sally met it with, "Oh, great." "Such enthusiasm," Jon joked. The audience sang along with the song's chorus, and the song ended with the chorus sung a cappella, mainly by the audience, a wonderful moment. That was followed by a cover of "Before I Grow Too Old," also known as "Silver And Gold," a song that was recorded by Fats Domino. Sally took out her kazoo, an instrument that had been missing from the band's summer gigs in Los Angeles. "An instrument I've mastered," Sally playfully boasted. She and Jon talked about how the kazoo was invented in the United States, and thus it was an act of patriotism to play it. The song on which she played it was "Slightly South Of The Border," a song from The Edge Of The World. It contains the line "Shopping is easy and much can be bought," and on that line, Sally indicated the T-shirts hanging above the crowd, as Jon had done on that same line back in February, on that occasion motioning to the artwork on the walls. The second set ended just before 8 p.m.

"A Fearful Moment"

The Mekons did one final, short set before the evening came to a close, but first Sally had a bit of business to attend to. She had a pair of tickets for the new Paul Thomas Anderson movie at the Vista that she was not going to use, and was hoping someone in the audience might want them. Someone did. That taken care of, the band started the set with "Abernant 1984/5," a song from Fear And Whiskey. There was a great energy to the song, and afterward Jon mentioned that at the time that song was recorded the goverment was trying to destroy our lives, and now here we are again. "How much more is there left to lose?" he sings in that song. There is no question but that we are experiencing a terrible time, particularly in this nation's history. Who would have guessed that the United States would so willingly and eagerly embrace fascism? So it was fitting that the band would follow "Abernant 1984/5" with "A Fearful Moment," with Rico on lead vocals. There was a false start, as Rico and Jon got on the same page. This was another song I don't recall seeing the band perform in concert, and was another highlight of the evening for me. Susie then got a chance to sing, but not before Sally teased her about how getting a good review led her to want to sing on every song now, even Sally's parts and Jon's parts. The song, "Sanctuary," comes from the band's new album, Horror, and is one of that record's best tracks. They wrapped up the set, and the show, with "Hard To Be Human Again," with Sally again on kazoo and Rico on harmonica. It was a perfect choice to conclude things, and Jon and Sally moved among the crowd and T-shirts during part of the song. "I saw a man hold a chicken to his head." The show ended at 8:46 p.m.

Set List

Set I